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This stylish restaurant serves French and Moroccan cuisine. An old courtyard building has been given a modern look, complete with leather seating and a wonderful chandelier. A small bar area and a beautiful roof terrace provide the perfect spot for an aperitif while waiting for a table (see Le Foundouk ).

Taste Moroccan cuisine as reinterpreted by Marrakech’s celebrity chef, Moha Fedal. Lunch and dinner are set menus but the food is unlike anything you will eat elsewhere. Gnawa musicians add to the ambience and perform by the poolside during summer (see Dar Moha ).

This completely women-run Moroccan restaurant is unusual in that it offers à la carte choices rather than a set menu. The restaurant is not particularly stylish, lacks the panache of its many competitors and has a surly staff, but it compensates with its terrific food (see Al Fassia ).

Don’t go by the looks of this modest restaurant (the waiter writes your order on a paper napkin). The tajines, couscous and brouchettes (kebabs) served here are tasty and very affordable. The atmosphere is terrific, thanks to its ringside view of the Jemaa El Fna (see Chez Chegrouni ).

Dine at Tobsil for a sumptuous experience. Occupying two levels of an old house around a central court, it is lit up by candlelight and has no menu; waiters deliver a seemingly endless succession of dishes – vegetarian meze, pastilla, tajines, couscous and pastries.

Each evening, a part of the main square in the medina is transformed into a vast open-air eatery; crowds flock between the numerous makeshift kitchens set up to prepare food for the people assembled. It’s possible to sample most Moroccan classics, from harrira and brochettes to couscous and tajines.

When you couldn’t possibly face another tajine, Kechmara is a smart, hip bar-restaurant with a distinctly European aesthetic. The Continental menu includes tasty salads, meat in sauces and desserts. The atmosphere is light and fun and there’s a fine rooftop terrace.

This restaurant‘s as famous an attraction as the Koutoubia or the Mamounia. Much of its reputation rests on its interior, a striking mix of the traditional and the bizarre, with flowering columns and quaint candy-striped fireplaces. Sit at the mother-of-pearl-inset tables and feast on the limitless set menu (see Dar Yacout ).

Located in a two-storey villa, this remains the best venue for a night out in town. Always packed, the noise levels are invariably high, with voices competing with the DJ. While the food is good, with saveurs d’ici (Moroccan) and saveurs d’ailleurs (French), it is the atmosphere that makes Comptoir memorable, especially on weekend nights when diners are entertained by belly dancers .

Like Comptoir, Le Tanjia excels in ramping up the atmosphere to almost nightclub-like levels, with a bevy of genuinely sexy belly dancers. Apart from the show, the menu lists some unforgettable Moroccan classics, such as the mouthwatering lamb meshaoui .